Endangered Species Funding Disproportionately Allocated, Leaving Many Species Neglected

Recent Climate Law Provides Additional Funds for Endangered Species Recovery Plans

Of the roughly $1.2 billion a year spent on endangered and threatened species, about half goes toward recovery of just two types of fish: salmon and steelhead trout along the West Coast.
Large sums directed toward a handful of species means others have gone neglected, in some cases for decades, as they teeter on potential extinction.
An Associated Press analysis of 2020 data found fish got 67% of the spending, mammals were a distant second with 7% of spending and birds had about 5%. Insects received just 0.5% of the money and plants about 2%.
More than half the species protected under the Endangered Species Act are plants, but they received about $26 million in 2020.
The climate law signed last year by President Joe Biden included $62.5 million for endangered species, allowing officials to hire biologists to craft recovery plans to guide future conservation work, initially for 32 species and for as many as 300 over coming years.